Now they want to add an airport to the prison in The Everglades?!?

Gov. DeSantis' so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" is ludicrous, asinine and downright insane. We must STOP this madness.

Could 'Alligator Alcatraz' Airport Launch Deportation Flights? What We Know — Newsweek, June 25, 2025.

… "Big planes can land," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the mastermind behind the plan, told conservative commentator Benny Johnson. "We'll detain, deport and get people out of this country"…

… "Alligator Alcatraz" sits on roughly 39 square miles of swamp west of Miami, its sole runway stretching about 10,499 feet—long enough to handle mid-sized jets and many wide-body aircraft…

… In practical terms, a 10,500-foot strip can support the Boeing 737 series often used on deportation charters, and even heavier planes like the C-17 Globemaster III, which needs less than 7,500 feet for takeoff at light loads…

… Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the facility would be funded primarily through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's shelter and services program, which previously provided assistance to migrants…

As a backcountry fishing guide who spends his days on a skiff in Florida Bay and The Everglades and an elected official in the Village of Islamorada, I cannot begin to describe just how ludicrous, asinine and downright insane this plan is.

We cannot build a prison in The Everglades… with an airport.

Gov. DeSantis, you claim you support Everglades restoration? Well this ain’t restoration. It’s destruction.

STOP this madness.

No airports. No rock mines. No prisons. Only Everglades.

Photo credit: New York Times.

#NowOrNeverglades